In the present-day society, which is often called a card-oriented society, a wide variety of cards are used. There are cards relating to the assets of a property owner such as a bank cash card, a credit card of a credit company, a prepaid card such as securities, and identification cards such as a driver's license, a health insurance card and a passport.
On many types of cards relating to the personal property or securities and bonds, necessary information is written on a magnetic stripe disposed on the surface or on the rear surface of the card. By using an automatic machine such as an ATM (automated teller machine) or a manual reading device, magnetic information is read from the magnetic stripe, and various types of processing are carried out.
FIG. 1 (a) illustrates an example of a cash card currently in use in a cash card processing flow. The reference numeral 1 shows a cash card body made of plastics or the like. On its front surface, there are provided a magnetic stripe 2 where information is recorded and an arrow mark 3 to indicate the card inserting direction. Although not shown in the drawing, other necessary matters are entered thereon by embossed characters.
Because the information written in the magnetic stripe can be easily read by using a device called skimmer, the card is often forged and used, and this causes troubles and damages.
To overcome the problems, an IC card incorporating a semiconductor memory has been used, and this type of card is now propagated through the efforts of banks and credit card companies to replace the magnetic card.
However, even in the case of this IC card, it is possible to read the information stored in the memory, and this card may not be absolutely safe when elaborate forgery is attempted. In addition, the IC card is much more expensive compared with the magnetic card, and it would be hard to expect the rapid propagation of the IC card.
In case of a bank cash card, it would suffice if the card can be used within the boundary of one country. In case of the credit card; however, the card must also be usable in foreign countries. The credit card is a magnetic card used worldwide, and it is very difficult to replace it with the IC card of unified standards.
Further, on the cash card and the credit card, information such as the name of the card owner is given by means of embossing. Because these types of information are also given in the magnetic information, the embossed information may often serve as a clue in the preparation for forging a card.
When these magnetic cards or IC cards are lost or stolen, the card owner may easily become aware of the loss or theft. When the card comes back into the hand of the original owner after it has been stolen, and, in particular, when the card owner does not become aware of the fact that the card has been stolen, it is liable to cause damage by the use of the forged card.
Not for the prevention of the illegitimate use to prevent the card forgery, but as the means for identifying the qualification of a card user, a personal identification number, consisting of 4-digit numbers, has been used. Since assumable numbers have been often used for these personal identification numbers, there have been many cases of the loss and damage. In recent years, the personal identification number is stolen not only by assumption of it but also by peeping such as the means of stealthily taking a photograph of the personal identification number. It is now very difficult to prevent the illegitimate use of cards by using the personal identification number.
For the prevention of trouble or damage caused by the use of the forged card, biometrics technique based on pattern recognizing technique is sometimes adopted. As representative examples of biometrics technique, iris recognition, finger prints recognition, palm-prints recognition, finger vein recognition, palm vein recognition, and hand-back vein recognition are known. As the recognition other than iris recognition, there are contact type and non-contact type recognition. In both cases, it is necessary to register the pattern in advance. Time and procedures are required for the registration of the pattern, and also, much time is needed for the recognition of the pattern itself, and that results higher costs.
In case of the contact type recognition, the user must directly touch a detection device, and this often causes physiological repugnance or disgust. When the user has injury on the physical part necessary for the biometrical recognition, or in the worst case where the user has lost the physical part to be needed for the recognition, the biometrics recognition cannot be carried out. Also, the recognition is partially made during the process of identifying, and accordingly, it is not a perfect method.
Further, in the system using the biometrical recognition where only the card owner himself or herself can use, even when the card owner wants to ask somebody to handle the card on behalf of the owner, who has not enough time to use the card personally or does not find a card processing device nearby, it is not allowed. This causes much inconvenience to the user.
As one of the means to prevent the forgery, an embossed hologram on a plastic base with surface irregularities is mounted on credit cards, prepaid cards, bank notes, securities, etc. This embossed hologram is very difficult to copy, and it is practically impossible to forge the cards with the embossed hologram. However, in the current practice, it is a person, who reads the embossed hologram at a glance. In this respect, it is possible to forge the card by using a similar embossed hologram and to use.
FIG. 1 (b) illustrates an example of a credit card with the embossed hologram, in which the card authentication is verified by the human sense. The reference numeral 1 shows a credit card body made of plastics or the like. On its front surface, a magnetic stripe 2 where information is recorded and an arrow mark 3 to indicate the inserting direction of the credit cash card are provided. Although not shown in the drawing, necessary matters are given thereon by embossed characters.
The credit cash card 1 is inserted into a terminal device with a portion with the arrow mark 3 at the foremost position. Near the forward end, an authentication verifying chip 4 consisted of, for example, an embossed hologram is mounted.
In case of a credit card, unlike the cash card, the magnetic stripe is disposed on the rear surface of the card. However, the direction to insert the card into the terminal device is the same. As a result, the reading direction of the magnetic information on the credit card is reverse to the case of the cash card.
In the verifying chip 4, a pattern [A] is confirmed by a person, who inserts the card into the terminal device by visual inspection, i.e., by sensuous means, but is not read by the card terminal device. Because, in the authentication verification based on the human sense, there are wide varieties in the ability of each individual person who confirms and identifies, and there are differences and varieties in the conditions of recognizing, psychological conditions, physical conditions, etc. even when by the same person. This method, thus, gives high effect in primary screening, but its reliability is low.
In the authentication verification by using supplementary tools or implements, it is carried out by using ultra-fine lines, special lines and micro-characters by using a screen with special shape, a magnifying device such as a magnifying glass or a special type filter generating optical interferences. Practically, a material having a special optical property is mixed into the base material, laminated film or ink using such as a base material with light-emitting property, a light-emitting laminated film, light-emitting ink, thermo-chromic ink, photo-chromic ink, etc., and the auxiliary tool of a special filter, a ultra-violet ray lamp, etc. is used. Even when these types of implements are used, final verification depends on human sense, and the reliability is low.
In the authentication verification by means of mechanical processing, it is carried out by mechanically detecting the property, such as the magnetic or optical property, of the object material. Practically, a light-emitting material or a magnetic material is mixed into a base material, laminated film or ink and a detection device is used. Or, special coded information is magnetically or optically added by means of OCR characters or magnetic barcodes, and a magnetic or optical detection device is used.
In the authentication verifying technique by means of the mechanical processing, an artifact-metrics system using an artifact without having reproducibility, randomly arranged in a medium, is used instead of the information specific to the living body. This is described in “Financial Business and Artifact-Metrics” published by the Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, the Bank of Japan (http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/japanese/jdps/2004/04-J-12.pdf) and “The Patterns of Artifact-Metrics in Financial Field”; 6th Information Security Symposium (http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/japanese/kinyu/2004/kk23-2-6.pdf).
In the artifact-metrics system, a light reflecting pattern of granular substances, a transmission light pattern of optical fibers, a parallax image pattern of polymer fibers, a fiber image pattern, a magnetic pattern of magnetic fibers, a random-recorded magnetic pattern, a random magnetic pattern of a magnetic stripe, a random electric charge pattern of a memory cell, a resonance pattern of electrically conductive fibers, a resonance pattern of a vibrating seal, etc., which are produced by mere chance, are used.
As the matters subject to the illegitimate use or the forgery of the card, “the information of the descriptions of the card” added when the card is issued to a user and “the information of the card” given to the card in the manufacturing process are included. (“Handbook on the Technique to Prevent Forgery on the Surface of Affiliated IC Cards”, published by the National Printing Bureau, the Ministry of Finance (see: http://www.npb.go.jp/ja/info/ichb.pdf).
The information of the descriptions of the card is the information which is accorded and printed on the card body when issued to the user, and which is relating to the card issuance such as the card owner information, the period of validity, etc. Falsification, which is a typical act of the illegitimate use of the card, is an act to alter all or a part of the information of the descriptions of the card, done by erasing the genuine information and adding illegitimate information.
The information of the card is the information of the card itself, other than the information of the descriptions of the card on the issued card. It is the information relating to the card body such as the physical shape of the card, background patterns applied to the card in pre-printing process, printing layer on underlying layer and laminated protective layer, etc.
Forgery is an illegal act conducted on the card body. Design or pattern, which gives information relating to the card body, is copied or imitated, and a card, which is similar to the authentic card in external appearance, is produced. Actually, the design, patterns, etc. on the surface of the authentic card are read by the means such as a scanner, which are then, edited or altered by using the means such as a printer. Many types of techniques to prevent the forgery of the card body are known through combining the printing mode, types of ink, printing patterns, etc., only in the printing art, but no decisive technique is found yet at present.
The methods for authentication verifying to recognize and identify the forgery can be roughly classified as a method based on human sensuous ability; a method using supplementary tools; and a method by mechanical processing.
In the authentication verifying by the human sensuous ability, it is carried out by the sensuous ability such as the visual sense, the tactile sense, etc. The means to identify by the visual sense includes colors of the card itself, a watermark and a hologram, which changes the color and patterns provided on the card by changing the viewing angle. The means to identify by the tactile sense includes detecting the surface irregularities added on the card and detecting the texture of the card body itself. Actually, a logo mark, a special font, printing lines for preventing copying, special color ink, embossed hologram, an optically changing material, a latent image pattern, etc., which are difficult to copy or copy and in which the authenticity of the card can be easily identified by the visual sense are used. And embossing, surface irregularities, perforation, etc. are also used, on which the authenticity can be identified by the finger touch or by the visual sense.
FIG. 2 shows a conventional example of a card, to which an artifact-metrics chip using metal granules is mounted as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-44650. FIG. 2 (a) is a general view, FIG. 2 (b) is a cross-sectional view, and FIG. 2 (c) is an enlarged view of the verifying chip.
In the card 1, the artifact-metrics chip 4 in form of a thin-plate shape made of a transparent resin mixed with metal granules 5 is layered on a card base plate 7, having a non-transparent property, which has an opening 4 for an authentication verifying chip. And a non-transparent card surface plate 6 is further layered, in which a magnetic stripe 2 and an arrow mark 3 to indicate the card inserting direction are formed thereon and an opening is arranged at the same position as the opening on the card base plate 7.
Because the metal granules 5 are mixed in the transparent resin three-dimensionally without regularity, the arrangement pattern of the metal granules 5 as observed through the opening is specific to each of the artifact-metrics chip 4. By utilizing this feature, a light to pass through the artifact-metrics chip 4 is photographed via the opening, and the arrangement pattern of the metal granules 5 can be observed. Therefore, it is possible to identify each individual artifact-metrics chip 4 and then, the card.
FIG. 3 shows another conventional example of a card, to which an artifact-metrics chip using fibers is mounted as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-29636 is mounted. FIG. 3 (a) is a general view, FIG. 3 (b) is a cross-sectional view, and FIG. 3 (c) is an enlarged view of the artifact-metrics chip.
In the card, an artifact-metrics chip 8 containing a mesh member 9 and short fibers 10 three-dimensionally mixed in a transparent resin is placed into an opening of a card base plate 1, which has a non-transparent property. On the surface of the card base plate 1, a magnetic stripe 2 and an arrow mark 3 to indicate the card inserting direction are disposed. On the artifact-metrics chip 8, an interference pattern is generated by the pattern of the mesh members 9 and by the short fibers 10.
This interference pattern is inherent in each of the artifact-metrics chip 8, i.e., specific to each card. By utilizing this feature, the pattern of the artifact-metrics chip 8 of the verifying chip is photographed through a transmitted light or a reflected light for the card to be identified.
Mechanical reading of such the pattern of biometrics or artifact-metrics is generally performed by an image-pickup device and the result is identified by a pattern-recognition technique. In this respect, there is a possibility that forgery can be made according to a copying technique.
FIG. 4 shows a basic arrangement of a card where a monochromatic embossed hologram chip is mounted as proposed by the applicant of the present invention. FIG. 4 (a) is a general view, FIG. 4 (b) is a cross-sectional view, FIG. 4 (c) is a cross-sectional view of the embossed hologram chip, FIG. 4 (d) is a drawing to explain the function of the embossed hologram chip, and FIG. 4 (e) shows a detection signal as outputted.
In a card 11, a surface plate 13 is mounted on a card base plate 14 having a non-transparent property, and an embossed hologram chip 12 is attached on it. FIG. 4 shows a basic arrangement of a card where a monochromatic embossed hologram chip is mounted as proposed by the applicant of the present invention. On the surface plate 13, a magnetic stripe 2 and an arrow mark 3 are disposed.
FIG. 4 (c) shows a basic structure of an embossed hologram chip.
On an embossed hologram chip base plate 15, a pit 16 with depth equal to ¼ wavelength of an incident light in use and a flat portion 17 where no pit is formed are arranged. A reflection layer 19 made of a material such as metal is formed on the embossed hologram chip base plate 15 and the pit 16. Reference numeral 18 represents a protective cover.
Referring to FIG. 4 (d), description will be given on the functions of the embossed hologram chip.
A light with a wavelength λ (lambda), which enters through the protective cover 18, is reflected at the flat portion 17 and a flat bottom of the pit 16, and the light with the wavelength λ as shown by solid line arrows is detected outside. On the edge of the pit 16, the light reflected at the upper end and the light reflected at the lower end are different on their phases by 180° and accordingly, negate each other. The light with the wavelength λ, shown each by a broken line arrow is not detected outside.
As illustrated in FIG. 4 (e), the reflection light detected signal dips at the boundary between the flat portion 17 and the pit 16, and this dipping occurs two times to a single pit 16. By utilizing this feature, the pit 16 can be reliably detected.
The laser beam used is an infrared laser beam with λ=780 nm (λ/4=195 nm) in case of a CD. In case of a DVD, a red laser with λ=650 nm (λ=151.25 nm) is used. In case of the next generation DVD, using a blue-violet laser with λ=405 nm, an ultraviolet laser with λ=351 nm or a far ultraviolet laser with λ=266 nm is under study. The depth of the pit, λ/4 is 101.25 nm, 87.75 nm or 66.5 nm respectively.
FIG. 5 shows a card capable of authentication verification, which the applicant of the present invention proposed in PCT/JP2006/325226. FIG. 5 (a) is a view as seen from above, FIG. 5 (b) is a cross-sectional view, and FIG. 5 (c) is an enlarged cross-sectional view. The reference numeral 31 represents a card body where a magnetic stripe 2 and an arrow mark 3 to indicate the card inserting direction are arranged. On a card base plate 35, an authentication verifying chip 32 is layered, and a surface plate 34 is layered further on the authentication verifying chip 32.
The base plate 35 is a thick synthetic resin plate as widely used in a cash card or the like, or a thin synthetic resin plate used in a prepaid card.
The authentication verifying chip 32 is made of synthetic resin, and fluorescent substance granules 33 are uniformly mixed all over the synthetic resin plate.
FIG. 6 shows a card capable of authentication verification, which the applicant of the present application proposed in PCT/JP2006/325227. FIG. 6 (a) is a view as seen from above, FIG. 6 (b) is a cross-sectional view, and FIG. 6 (c) is an enlarged cross-sectional view. The reference numeral 41 represents a card body where a magnetic stripe 2 and an arrow mark 3 to indicate the card inserting direction are arranged. On a card base plate 44, an authentication verifying chip 42 and a surface plate 45 are layered. Further, another surface plate may be layered on the authentication verifying chip 42 and the surface plate 45.
Reference numeral 84 represents a surface plate, and another surface plate may be layered on the authentication verifying chip 62 and the surface plate 64.
The card base plate 44 is a thick synthetic resin plate as widely used in a cash card or the like, or a thin synthetic resin plate used in a prepaid card. The surface plate 45 is made of synthetic resin, having an opening where the authentication verifying chip 42 is to be placed at the center. A radiation admitting material or a radiation shielding material may be used as the material of the surface plate 45. A radiation admitting material is used for a surface plate which is layered further on the authentication verifying chip 42 and the synthetic resin surface plate 45.
The authentication verifying chip 42 has such an area and thickness to be placed in the opening of the surface plate 45, and radioactive substance granules 43 are mixed therein. α-ray radioactive substance such as 232Th, 235U, 238U, β-ray radioactive substance such as 40K, 210Pb, etc. may be used as natural radioactive substance granules. α-ray radioactive substance such as 241Am, 244Cm, etc., and β-ray radioactive substance such as 60Co, 90Sr, 137Cs, etc., and γ-ray radioactive substance such as 22Na, 51Cr, 54Mn, 57Co, 60Co, 133Ba, 241Am, etc. may be used as artificial radioactive substance granules.
When considering the problems related to the exposure to radiation, it is desirable to avoid the use of γ-ray radioactive substance because the reaching distance is long and its shielding is difficult. If granules of a non-radioactive substance, which is an isomer of radioactive substance, are mixed, the mixed condition of the radioactive substance granules cannot be confirmed unless radiation detecting means is used. It is desirable that the synthetic resin, where radioactive substance granules are to be mixed, is a material, is not changed by radiation.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-171109, a verification device having a substance Lamé which is embedded in a base material with high transparent property and which reflects light, is disclosed. In this verification device, Lamé in form of a cylindrical shape, a quadrangular prism or a quadrangular pyramid for reflecting light on the surface is embedded at random inside a transparent resin.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-44650    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-29636    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-171109    [Non-Patent Document 1] “Financial Business and Artifact-Metrics” published by the Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, the Bank of Japan (http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/japanese/jdps/2004/04-J-12.pdf)    [Non-Patent Document 2] “The Patterns of Artifact-Metrics in Financial Field”; 6th Information Security Symposium (http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/japanese/kinyu/2004/kk23-2-6.pdf)    [Non-Patent Document 3] “Handbook on the Technique to Prevent Forgery on the Surface of Affiliated IC Cards”, published by the National Printing Bureau, the Ministry of Finance (see: http://www.npb.go.jp/ja/info/ichb.pdf).